New PPIC Poll on Propositions: One Anticipated Outcome, One Surprise
The Public Policy Institute of California’s September poll measured the current standing of two ballot measures: Proposition 15, the property tax increase on commercial property, and Proposition 16 to rescind the ban on affirmative action. As expected, the Prop 15 battle is going to be close with a slim majority in favor at the present […]
California Cheats Charter School Students of Funding Again
The 2020-21 state budget signed back in June by Governor Newsom glaringly failed to fund growing regular public schools and public charter schools. A purported “fix” to this problem, pushed by the governor and Democrat legislators, turns out to be just more Sacramento smoke and mirrors. The budget for the new fiscal year froze funding […]
The Santa Barbara Summer Camp of my Dreams
Have any strange dreams during this crazy California summer? Me too. Mine compressed time and space. In dreamland, I toggled between the smoky claustrophobia of summer 2020 and childhood memories of the Santa Barbara-area baseball camp I attended in the 1980s. What took me back to Ken McMullen Baseball Camp in Carpinteria? Maybe it was […]
Most ‘job killer’ bills bite the dust again
As COVID-19 slammed into California a half-year ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered a partial shutdown of what had been a high-flying economy to combat the deadly virus, plunging the state into its worst recession since the Great Depression. In turn, the pandemic and the recession spawned a flurry of legislative bills aimed, their sponsors said, […]